Russia Shifts Strategic Bomber Fleet to Remote Bases After Historic Ukrainian Drone Assault

Russia has moved many of its strategic bombers to more remote airbases throughout the country following this month’s extensive Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow’s military aircraft, as indicated by satellite imagery.

On June 1, Ukrainian security forces executed a significant drone operation targeting Russian military airbases, reaching thousands of kilometers beyond the front lines in what President Volodymyr Zelensky characterized as their longest-range mission to date. Dubbed «Operation Spider’s Web,» the attack focused on multiple airbases well within Russian territory, specifically in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan, and Ivanovo regions.

Analysis by the OSINT research group AviVector reveals that all Tu-160 bombers previously located at the Belaya airbase in Irkutsk and the Olenya airbase in Murmansk had departed by early June.

Two of these bombers were moved to Anadyr in the Chukotka region, three to Yelizovo in Kamchatka, and another three to the Borisoglebskoye airbase in Tatarstan.

Additionally, Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS aircraft were also transferred from Murmansk to bases in Tatarstan, as well as the Amur and Saratov regions, and to Mozdok in North Ossetia—a facility that had not seen active use by the Russian military in recent years.

According to U.S. officials quoted by The New York Times, the strikes on June 1 resulted in the destruction of at least six Tu-95 strategic bombers, four Tu-22M aircraft, and several A-50 airborne early warning aircraft.

Ukrainian sources estimate that a total of 41 aircraft belonging to the Russian Aerospace Forces were either destroyed or damaged, a figure that was later corroborated by a senior NATO official to The Moscow Times.

Justin Bronk, an aviation analyst at the RUSI think tank in London, noted that the imagery from the Anadyr base could imply that Moscow is attempting to mitigate the risk of further drone strikes.

Following the success of the Ukrainian attacks, Russia is likely to frequently shift its bombers between bases, according to Greg Bagwell, a former senior commander of the British Royal Air Force, who spoke with Newsweek.

While Western officials suspect that Russia may be planning a more extensive retaliatory strike against Kyiv, its immediate response has involved an upsurge in missile and drone attacks throughout Ukraine.